#CoolFacts 142

#CoolFacts 142

1-5 CoolFacts

1. Nectarines and peaches are the same species, with a gene controlling whether the skin is fuzzy or smooth. – Source

2. When Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773, it made the price of the tea (even with the tax included) cheaper than the competing smuggled Dutch tea. Americans refused to buy the cheaper tea because to do so would recognize Parliament’s right to tax the colonies. – Source

3. Charlie Chaplin was intricately tied in with Disney. Chaplin was one of the inspirations for Mickey Mouse. He would later go on to work with Disney as a distributor, and help Disney in their negotiations for Snow White. – Source

4. In 400 BC, Persian engineers were able to store ice, in the desert, in the middle of summer. –Source

5. If a member of the US military or a US official is detained by the International Court in the Hague, the US has a law allowing it to invade the Netherlands to release them. – Source

6-10 CoolFacts

6. The B-58 Hustler bomber did not have ejection seats. Instead they had ejection capsules that would enclose the pilot into an egg-shaped capsule to allow a safer ejection at speeds up to Mach 2 and altitudes higher than 35,000 feet. – Source

7. M. Night Shyamalan created a hoax trying to convince people that his obsession with the supernatural came from a near death experience during his childhood. He went as far as getting a Sci-Fi Channel documentary crew to sign non-disclosure agreements. – Source

8. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s image was put on the US dime, in part to honor his effort in founding the March of Dimes, a charity established to combat the spread of polio. – Source

9. Camels were brought to Canada in 1862 to haul gold. The disastrous experiment ended in only one year after the camels terrorized horses and ate miners’ clothes and soap. – Source

10. Architects designed an ‘Earthscraper’ in response to a 10-story height limit on buildings in Mexico City. Reaching 1000 feet deep and shaped like an inverted pyramid, pedestrians walking over its transparent top (‘base’) can look down toward the bottom (‘peak’) of the structure. – Source